You know them by the distinctive tap-tap-tap sound that echoes through your backyard trees
or, if you’re unlucky, from your aluminum gutters.

Although they are easy to hear, woodpeckers are difficult to spot. But as trees drop their
leaves in the fall and winter, woodpeckers will increasingly become visible and active — a
birdwatcher’s delight.

Six of seven native species of woodpeckers are visible in Ohio trees each winter, ranging from
the crow-size pileated woodpecker to the much smaller, more-common downy and red-bellied
woodpeckers, said Jim McCormac, avian expert with the Ohio Division of Wildlife.

The yellow-bellied sapsucker seeks warmer winter quarters and migrates to southeastern states
and to Mexico. But on to the action.

“Woodpeckers are one of the only birds that have the ability to get through the tough outer bark
on trees,” said Sarah Dalton, a naturalist at the Blendon Woods State Park.

The beak

One thing all woodpeckers do is peck — at wood. And they do it as many as 15 times
per second, making their search for food sound like someone pounding nails.

“What they do — slamming their heads into trees all day — would kill us in a
heart beat,” McCormac said.

A woodpecker’s skull is separated from the beak by sponge-like tissue that
absorbs much of the shock from each peck. Woodpeckers’ skulls also are reinforced, helping them
withstand the pecking without knocking themselves out.

And their eyes are protected by membranes that prevent them from popping out of
the sockets during their drillings.

How they use their beaks is a balance of biological design and simple
physics.

A woodpecker’s upper and lower beaks don’t line up exactly, said Andy Jones,
curator and director ornithology at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

When the bird shoots its head forward toward a tree, the offset nature of its
beak causes a delay between when the top and bottom make contact with the bark.

“It means the top part of the bill hits first and then the bottom part,” Jones
said. “That helps spread the force to different parks of the head.”

The tongue

Making a hole is just one part of the equation. Getting the prize out is
another.

The biological marvel of the woodpecker continues inside the beak. These birds
use lengthy, barbed tongues to grab their prey.

“Birds don’t have soft tongues like we do,” Jones said. “Their tongues are
pointed and have a cartilage element to them.”

These tongues stretch far into the holes they peck and are covered with pointed,
hair-like barbs, Jones said.

Once inserted into a tree, the tongue snags insect larvae and small insects as
it recoils back into the beak.

“If you watch a woodpecker closely, you’ll see the tongue going in
and out, hoping to hook into the insects inside of the tree,” Jones said.

Sapsucker

The sole exception to this feeding technique: the aptly named yellow-bellied
sapsucker.

Rather than drilling deep holes, the sapsucker makes much smaller ones.

“The sap oozes out and this attracts the insects,” Jones said.

After a while, these holes become sticky troughs in which hungry insects end up
getting stuck.

The woodpecker simply sips up the sap and the trapped insects along with
it.

The hole

After woodpeckers are through feeding, the holes serve as homes and feeding
spots for a number of animals, birds and insects.

“They’re a keystone species,” McCormac said. “There are so many animals that
exploit woodpecker holes.

“The actions of woodpeckers influence a whole host of animals.”

He said owls, flying squirrels and wood ducks turn the holes into homes.
Hummingbirds turn them into feeding spots.

Ohio woodpeckers also serve as way to track a voracious, invasive beetle — the
emerald ash borer.

“A woman noticed all of these woodpeckers were pecking at one tree in her yard,”
McCormac said. “Sure enough, the tree was full of emerald ash borers.”
wlowery@dispatch.com

Buckeye State woodpeckers

Pileated

Dryocopus pileatus

• Nearly as large as a crow, this woodpecker is the largest in most of North
America. Its loud ringing calls and huge, rectangular excavations in dead trees announce its
presence.

Red-bellied

Melanerpes carolinus

• These birds are pale, medium-size and common in Eastern forests. Their barred
backs and red caps make them easily to identify.

Downy

Picoides pubescens

• This active little bird is a familiar sight at backyard feeders and parks and
woodlots. It is an acrobatic forager and is at home on tiny branches or balancing on plants, seed
balls and suet feeders. Its call note is a a sharp pik.

Hairy

Picoides villosus

• This small, powerful bird forages along trunks and main branches of large
trees. Look for them at backyard suet and sunflower feeders, and listen for them whinnying from
woodlots, parks and forests.

Northern flicker

Colaptes auratus

• This large, brown woodpecker has a gentle expression and handsome
black-scalloped plumage. You might find these birds on walks as well — flickers eat mainly ants and
beetles with their slightly curved bills. During courtship, males make a loud racket by “drumming”
on dead trees.

Yellow-bellied sapsucker

Sphyrapicus varius

• This medium-size bird makes shallow holes to capture insects attracted to sap.
Its existence is vital for the maintenance of a large community of species that take advantage of
these holes.

Red-headed

Melanerpes erythrocephalus

• This bird is unmistakable, showing colors of red, black and white. It is one
of the most aggressive members of the family and one of the most omnivorous. This is Ohio’s only
woodpecker in which the sexes are similarly marked.